Precognition
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: That dream had been unreal, an entire timeline laid out before him. James had probably slipped a little something into his drink before bed which might account for his strange dream. It was when he found himself humouring the Animagi thing, then staring down at four huge paws and a muzzle in the mirror, that Sirius Black realized he had a serious problem. Time-travel, sort of
1. Part 1-1

**Precognition  
****Part 1-1**

_September 2nd 1975_  
_Tuesday_

* * *

Waking up with a gasp, Sirius Black shot upwards and pressed his head between his knees, almost choking in an attempt to pull air into his lungs. His eyes flew around the dorm room, taking in all the decorations around him with bright silver eyes, pawing at his own face with one hand. Sweat stuck to the back of it, trickling down between his knuckles as he pulled away and stared at it. Behind his hand, he could just about make out the red and yellows of the Gryffindor boy's dorm, the four other beds -one unoccupied- that were pushed up against the wall.  
Three other bodies, all alive, were fast asleep, and slowly, Sirius allowed himself to calm slightly, pressing his forefinger and thumb up against his temples and rubbing. His head hurt; that dream had been unlike anything else. An entire life-line laid before him, so much to take in, a massive stink in prison, Azkaban of all things.

Looking at Peter's form, Sirius frowned, dragging his hand down the side of his face and scrunching his nose up in thought. Peter wouldn't betray them, would he? What an awful dream. There was only a good handful of things to take from it, like the way they'd completed he Animagus thing. He smiled a little at the thought of it, looking over at Remus' sleeping form. The full moon was coming up in a fortnight or so, that much was evident in the way Remus' body was twisted around the covers, slick with sweat but not as bad as the drenching Sirius was currently covered in.

Staggering to his feet and looking around for a spare pair of sleeping clothes, the heir of the noble family of Black twisted to look at James, whom was making kissing faces into his pillow. Great, another dream of Lily. Turning his gaze outside and staring up at the full moon, he finally sighed, pulling off his shirt.

It was worth a try surely, was it not? The big, black dog that his 'future self' from the dream had turned into did seem pretty spot on. James had probably slipped a little something into his drink before bed though, which might account for his strange dream.

.

It was when he found himself staring down at four huge paws, and then a muzzle in the mirror, that Sirius Black realized he had a serious problem.

* * *

When James Potter woke up on his first full day at Hogwarts, he felt surprisingly well rested. The train journey the previous day had been alright, even if Lily had shot him down the second he'd met her on the platform. Leg's tangled around the sheets, James kicked them off and down, stretching his arms up and high over his back, twisting this way and that as a series of clicks echoed through his body. Hand clasping onto the pair of glasses upon the night-side table, James carefully placed them upon his ace, brushing his fringe from his face.

"Anyone awake yet?" Looking from Remus -the first to awaken- to Peter -the first to run to food- James frowned in disappointment, as both were still sleeping. Maybe Sirius? Though as the boy could probably sleep through an attack by the Whomping Willow, chances were slim.

"Hey Sirius, you-" James cut off, as his eyes finally landed on the only other conscious boy in the room. Sirius looked a wreck. His shirt was torn to pieces, as if some savage animal had gone after it, and his hair, usual styled back and away from his face, fell over his eyes and hid his expression perfectly. In all honesty, it looked like he'd been dragged across the Quidditch pitch, and there was just no mud to prove it.

"You okay?" Shooting to his feet, James stumbled over, tripping up over the copious amounts of sweets and chocolates they'd thrown all over the room last night. Which in retrospect, had been a very bad idea indeed.

.

Making it to Sirius' side, but not before he'd sent Peter's chocolate frog soaring, James scratched at the back of his head, unsure of what to do. If there was anyone among them that kept their cool, that was well known for keeping their cool, it was Sirius. And now..

"Hey Sirius, what's up?"

And then Sirius looked up.  
His skin shone slightly, like he'd been sweating and hadn't showered it off quite yet, strands of hair sticking to his face in the ways that usually annoyed the boy. Dark black bags hung low beneath his eyes, carved slightly into his skin, which looked paler than it'd done yesterday. But it was the silvery grey orbs that James winced at; they looked haunted.

"Bad dream," Sirius finally murmured, running a hand through his hair before grimacing at the limb as he tugged it away from his head.

"Are you sure? Don't need to see Madam Pomfrey, do you?"

"No... I'll be okay." Sirius threw the sheets off his legs, leaving them in an untidy tile so unlike him as he wondered off to get a shower.

Watching his friend go, James frowned to himself, dropping onto his best friends bed and running a hand through his own hair in confusion.

"James?" Remus was awake at least, so James turned to look at the teenaged werewolf.

"Something wrong with him... And I've got no idea why. He's had a few bad dreams before but..."

.

Meeting up in the Gryffindor common room, James stuck one hand into his pocket, chewing on a piece of toffee as he watched Peter struggled to stuff his head through his sweat-shirt of a jumper. Of course, he was aiming his head for the arm hole instead, and both James and Remus were watching in amusement.  
Sirius hadn't appeared after his shower, and for a moment, James had wondered if he'd left them hanging. His worries were quickly put to rest though, because Sirius came stumbling out their dorm room, completely missing the step and tumbling right down them.  
Thankfully, the enchantments of the stairs saw them turn into a slide, much in the same way the stairs responded when a boy tried to head up to the girl's room. Their friend slid to rest at the footsteps, looking so much more undignified than normal that Peter had even paused his futile war with the sweater vest to ogle their friend.

"Sirius? Are you sure that you're okay?" Kneeling down beside his friend, Remus staring into the grey eyes, which looked up at the three of them in some form of unblinking confusion.

"I'm fine. I've just had a bit of a rough night," he grumbled, getting to his feet and ignoring everyone that was staring.  
No wonder; Sirius Orion Black was so cool and collected normally, and now he'd just toppled into the common room. Oddly enough, his tie was wrapped around his hair, keeping it pulled back and James knew that McGonagall would kill them if they tried to have that catch on... Maybe outside of lessons though...

"Come on then, let's go get some breakfast."

.

The odd behaviour didn't stop there, Remus was upset to notice. When they walked into the great hall, Sirius looked around in confusion, taking in the tables and the ceiling and the entire layout like it'd been years, as opposed to a few months, since he'd least been here.

"I was hoping we could work on our furry problems tonight," James whispered under his breath as he strode up to the Gryffindor table, high-fiving Lynn McGonagall, the nephew of their head of house and a fellow Quidditch player, as he passed by.

"I need to find a new seeker for the team too, any ideas?"  
Remus shook his head, feeling little interest in the second half of James sentence and much more interest in the first. Or rather, Sirius' reaction to the first part.  
He'd clammed up slightly, looking around in a nervous manner before returning to his somewhat cool, but currently still very much unbalanced self. So, he'd made some progress on the Animagi front then, but why wasn't he sharing the information? This was nothing like Sirius at all, and yet so completely like him. If this was damming information, then it was explained. Now he just needed to find a place to corner his friend before James or Peter noticed.  
Whilst neither were idiots -though one was brighter than the other- it was always Remus that'd notice something was wrong, or the root of the wrong, first. And as such, it was usually his job to get it sorted out.

"Lily!"  
Rolling his eyes, the werewolf turned his head back to James, but not before he witnessed Sirius jumping slightly at the call.

Odd. So very odd.

* * *

Pressing his back up against the hard wooden ridges of the bookshelf, Sirius Black slowly sunk down till he was sat upon the library floor. James was off somewhere in Muggle Studies, which he'd conned Remus and Peter into taking alongside him. Not that Sirius hadn't been pulled in either, but just for today, he was skipping.

That dream had scared him half to death, because now he was seeing things, things that he'd once dismissed.  
Peter did look twitchy.  
And when James asked Lily out and she said no, Sirius had never used to look at the girl afterwards, too busy dealing with James's disappointment. But now that he did look, he could see the almost invisible blush on the girl's cheeks that told him if James grew up a bit, she would crack.  
And from the looks of things, Remus had gathered that something big was wrong. Which would be annoying.

It felt like there were two different people in his head, like he'd lived two different lives and it was hurting.

Rubbing his fingers along his forehead in a feeble attempt to lessen the pain, Sirius took in several deep breaths, attempting to pull himself together. Just because he'd lived out an entire life-line in a dream, just because being an Animagi all suddenly clicked into place, just because he knew spells they hadn't covered yet; it didn't mean anything.

"Black?"  
Pausing, Sirius looked up and found Lily stood over him, a sneering Severus Snape stood a way back from behind her. God, he had to look a wreck for Evan's to come over in concern.

"You okay?"

"No, I'm really not." Several views clashed in his head, one of the Lily Evans that kept turning down ins best friend, kept hurting his best friend, and then one Lily Evans asking him to become a secret keeper.

"I need to go." Stumbling to his feet and pushing past Lily, ignoring the way that Snape snorted at him, Sirius made a dash for the door.

.

Out on the nearly open grounds, heading towards the Quidditch pitch, Sirius had managed to duck behind one of the castle walls before changing. Muscles all but humming, he dashed across the field in the form of a huge black dog, big as a bear.

For a moment, he couldn't help but let out a brakish laugh, because it all felt so damn right.  
Four feet, slapping against the grass beneath him, padded feet throwing his forwards. Padfoot. The name warmed him inside and everything seemed so much more simple in this form.

Filch, whom had been cleaning up some first year Hufflepuff's broken broom, let out an almighty squawk as he shot by, taking off back to the castle and screaming about the Grim, or something along those lines. Who knew the man was so into Divination?

Snorting, Sirius skidded to a halt at the Quidditch pitch, ducking into the bleachers before transforming back. If he was going to be mistaken for the Grim in this form, well, it looked like he'd be having some fun with it. Definitely potential here.  
Clambering up the stairs to the top of the Gryffindor bleachers, the heir of the Black family dropped into a seat, letting his head drop back onto the one behind as he let out a sigh. Then he heard the whizzing, and he almost shot up out his seat.

Someone down there was practising.

* * *

**So, I really, really like the Marauders era. It's been a while since I fully read the books, and I'm only back through the 3rd one right now, but yeah. If there are problems, tell me. This'll eventually be a SiriusxOC, but much later and it's not the main focus I don't think. That's more Sirius and his sudden knowledge of the future, whilst wanting to believe the best in his friends. **

**So yeah, thanks for reading,**

**Tsume  
xxx**


	2. Part 1-2

**Precognition  
****Part 1-2**

_September 2nd 1975_  
_Tuesday_

* * *

Soaring up into the air, a girl shot up past the bleachers, rocketing across the grounds on a broom after a small, golden orb.  
A seeker.

Leaning forwards slightly, and then thinking better of it, Sirius reached for a pair of discarded binoculars, flipping them up to his head and peering through the lenses. He tracked the girl and her big, red and yellow scarf across the pitch, soaring after a clearly enchanted golden ball. It wasn't the snitch, he found out when he looked closely, because it was always, always just out her grip.  
More like something she'd enchanted for a training exercise.  
Which was odd, because Sirius knew James was looking for a seeker now that Astrix Alix had graduated, leaving captainship of the Gryffindor's to him. And if anyone was as good as this on a broom, surly James would have tackled them from the air by now, demanding they join his team.

Sirius racked his brain, looking into that dream and trying to remember who the seeker had been, but it just came up as a faceless boy, from some year below probably. Which was weird... Oh.  
He wouldn't know about this girl practising, because he'd have been in muggle studies. The only reason he was here was that dream stressing him out.

"Oi!" Sirius watched as the girl wobbled on her broom, twisting to look back at him in something akin to shock. The fake snitch had stopped too, seeming to realize there was no-one chasing it now. The girl, though he wasn't sure, seemed to grimace before slowly floating over towards him.  
A Nimbus 1700, the same brand that James flew pulled up at the bleachers, and a girl stared back at him.

One half of Sirius' mind could not, for the life of him, recognise her, but the other half said that he did in fact know her. Blonde hair, Gryffindor colours and the same schooling year as him; Stella Crowley. Not exceedingly well known, did well in class but didn't seem to bother with friends. On pleasant enough terms with everyone. She seemed as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

"Erm, hi," she finally murmured, looking increasingly nervous, like she'd been caught doing she shouldn't have. Maybe she didn't have permission to be flying about right now, or maybe she did and just didn't want anyone knowing. If she never tried out for Quidditch, then it was probably the last one.

"You're good," Sirius mused, desperate to take his head out of that dream and focus on the here and now. Stella blushed right down to the tips of her blonde hair, looking nervously about. The little golden ball dropped into her hand and she curled her fingers around it, clearly quite weary of letting it go.

"Why haven't you tried out for seeker before?" Sirius mused, resting one elbow on the ledge between him and a dramatic fall down to the pitch. Stella stared back at him, suspicion in her gaze and he could understand why. James was his best friend, of course he'd want someone to try out for Quidditch if they were good enough. Oh, and he was a well known prankster, so this might have seemed like one big joke.  
The blonde seemed to settle upon the second one, because she drew her broom back a bit, looking at him in obvious confusion.

"Because I didn't think I was good enough."

"Tell me you're kidding, James'll ring my neck if I don't get you on try-outs at least." More blushing from the girl and Sirius smirked to himself slightly. Wacky dream or not, he still had it.

"Why are you here anyway..." Stella ran a hand through her bangs of blonde hair, the rest tied back in a tidy pigtail to keep it from her eyes. Staring back at the girl, Sirius shrugged slightly, looking back at the castle, down at the sloppy mud where there were probably huge paw-prints before turning back to the girl.

"Came to clear my head," said Sirius after a longer than necessary pause, running a hand through his hair as he did so. The phantom feeling of wind rusting through his fur remained and Sirius tried not to lose himself into the feeling, half afraid he'd end up turning back into his Animagi form. And that wouldn't go down well in front of an untrustworthy witness.

"You know, you're a lot more talkative then I'd expect of a loner." It hadn't meant to be an insult, but it came out as such he guessed, from the way her face scrunched up a little and her blue eyes narrowed. And then her face relaxed, like she seemed to gather it wasn't an insult, but the weariness in the blue orbs remained.

"Yeah, well if people don't know me, how can the expect to know that?"

"Touché." The girl didn't seem to amused by his behaviour, and Sirius rolled his eyes with a sigh.

.

He stayed up there for the rest of first period, and upon seeing that he wasn't going to be moving any time soon, Stella went back to playing with her enchanted fake-snitch, zipping around after it, or on occasion, letting it fly away whilst she attempted to spot it. He wasn't too sure how much time passed, but it was enough for him to safely categories the parts of his time-line dream and stuff them somewhere in his mind to be addressed later, thankfully clearing his head. And just in time too, because when he looked back out over the castle grounds, he could spot the three Marauder's dashing towards the Quidditch pitch, a scrap of paper in James's hands. The incomplete Marauder's map.  
Looking out at the blonde Gryffindor, Sirius contemplated warning her, but then again, James was oh so desperate for a seeker. So very desperate.

"Hey Sirius, what are you doing up here?" Peter had approached, stuffing a cake of some form into his mouth and the heir of Black found himself recoiling in slight disgust.

"Erm, James?"  
Looking over at Remus, then to the boy he was addressing, Sirius quickly figured out what was wrong. James's eyes were all but trained upon the girl rocketing through the air, who had yet to know the whole lot of Marauder's were watching her now.

"I've got to get my broom!" James hissed, taking off down the steps, no doubt to go and confront the girl. Personally, Sirius wouldn't be surprised if he dragged her kicking and screaming onto the Quidditch pitch for their next match. He could only hope it wouldn't come down to that, because hey, then the girl might turn her annoyance upon him.

* * *

Slowly seating himself up in the bleachers and pulling a transfiguration text-book -their next lesson after this free period- from his bag, Remus Lupin allowed himself to frown. Sirius seemed a lot calmer than he'd been previously, almost perfectly at ease, as what he normally should be.  
But there was just a slight tightness in his jaw, a twitch of muscle that showed he was trying not to think of something. And trying hard.

Flicking open the still activated map, Lupin ran his fingers across the rough outline of the Quidditch pitch. They'd only managed a rough sketch of the grounds so far, and hadn't even started going into detail with the castle, but it was getting there. The very project they'd started last year.

Peter, who seemed to have figured out he needed to add a few bits to his summer homework, as sprawled across the benches somewhere behind them, and thankfully, was out of earshot. Which meant it was time for some answers.

"Sirius. Who's the girl?" Best to start off easy really. Sirius wasn't stupid, he knew he'd be getting questioned, but sometimes it worked to distract him a bit. Only sometimes though.

"Stella Crowley, the loner girl from our own year." At Remus's surprised face, Sirius gave a bark of laughter, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Yes, I was surprised too."

"And what progress have you made on the furry problem?"  
Sirius actually chocked. It shouldn't have been that big a shock, Remus had always been exceedingly good at reading the three of them, that was how he'd found out that they knew he was a werewolf.

"A bit of a leap."

"Anything to do with the huge tracks leading this way?"

"...Maybe a very big leap," Sirius grumbled, pressing his head into the palm of his hands, frowning as he did so. There was a whoop from below, and James Potter went soaring into the air, whizzing past their bleacher and sending the Gryffindor coloured covering flailing. There was a loud victory call that saw everyone, including Stella, turn their heads up to Potter.

"Now watch him lay on the charm," Sirius grumbled, turning back this attention back to the girl hovering in mid-air, "we'll have a new seeker before transfigurations."

.

And Sirius was right. It only took twenty minutes in the presence of James Potter -who was not above begging, pleading and the puppy dog eyes- and Stella Crowley was officially on the team. Which left James in high spirits for the day.

"You know," he mused, walking alongside the three boys and reluctant girl, "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Sirius barked out another laugh, rolling his eyes, but as he looked over at Stella, it was obvious in his eyes that he wasn't overjoyed with her presence between them.  
Remus had to agree it didn't feel right to have a girl among their ranks, even if they were just walking with her to the same class whilst James instructed her to join him for the 'team meeting' tomorrow. Not that he was going to allow her to escape. It'd only taken him half an hour to deem her the best possible choice for seeker. She was going to be turning up to help trial the others. He did, after all, still need two chasers and two beaters. Almost all the Quidditch team had left last year, with only James and Lynn, Gryffindor's keeper, remaining.

"I tell you, you're quite possibly one of the best flier I've seen. You know, behind me and Lynn... Great for a girl." James was putting his foot in his mouth, Remus could see that by the way the girl was rolling her eyes. Yet, thank the heavens, she was polite enough to not say anything. In fact, she was quite distant from them all together, which was good.

"Did you finish this essay Sirius?" Peter had turned to the tallest amongst their ranks, and Remus found himself frowning again. All through the day, Sirius had shot the most distrustful of glances at Peter, but why, Remus didn't have the slightest of clues.

"Hum? Oh yeah, it's in my bag... Somewhere." Adjusting his hold of the back-pack, Sirius let out a low sigh, so low that Remus almost missed it. The teen had never kept them in the dark for too long, so he wasn't massively worried. If there was something troubling Sirius, they'd all find out in time. They all knew to give him some space after all.

.

Arriving outside of transfiguration class, Remus watched as James bid a goodbye to Stella, with an undertone of a threatening promise to track her down should she try and escape tomorrows plans. Then, when the girl had gone into class, James all but launched himself at Sirius, attaching himself to the boy's torso and nuzzling into the rather flustered boy's neck.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"  
Awkwardly patting at James's back, Sirius grimaced slightly, clearly quite uncomfortable with the display of affection. He obvious wasn't happy with affectionate displays he wasn't in control of, no doubt due to his overbearing family.

"I've got a seeker, and a bloody good one at that. Excellent, the team's coming together."  
Walking past James, who appeared more than happy to stand at the entrance crackling, Remus rolled his eyes as Sirius grinned in amusement.

"Some days."

"Some days indeed Sirius."

* * *

From where she was sitting on the back row, next to Severus in their transfiguration class, Lily Evans frowned slightly. As she did not take muggle studies, she'd headed out to the library to check out a few new books for the year. And that's when, much to her surprise, she'd seen Black.  
Sirius Black, pressed up against a book-shelf like the entire world was toppling down around him and he had no idea what to do. She could see it in the inwards curve of his shoulders, the way his head hung forwards like he was contemplating giving up.  
Even though she thought he was as pig-headed and arrogant as Potter, she was still pleased to see him looking somewhat like his normal self in transfigurations.

He sat down next to Remus Lupin, with Peter Pettigrew and James Potter flanking him in an almost protective manner. So they too seemed to have noticed something was wrong.

"Probably deserves whatever it is," Severus murmured from beside her, nose deep in a potions textbook from the year above them.  
Lily hummed, because Black wasn't exactly the nicest person to everyone, but it had to be bad to shake him up, didn't it?

She hadn't missed that when the group of four arrived, they'd been escorting Stella Crowley within their ranks, with Potter even threatening to track her down should she attempt to get out of whatever plan they'd concocted. Why the girl was involved, Lily had no idea; Stella was exceedingly quiet and reserved.  
The only reason Lily noticed her was because she was looking, she noticed the quiet girl that attempted to blend into the background. She'd even tried to befriend her in first year before realizing the girl was not social awkward, but rather went out of her way to avoid social interaction. So why was she suddenly involved with the Marauder's?

Shaking her head, Lily turned her attention back to the front of the room, listening to the instructions. She should be able to get this down right away after all, she'd spent a good portion of the holiday studying the theory.

"Mr Black! That is perfect!"

Heads whipped around to look at Sirius Black, who was staring back at his mushroom like he hadn't expected that to happen at all. Even Lily found herself staring, because he'd gotten it on their first try. No dinner-plate in sight.  
How, how had he done that?  
If it wasn't for the fact that Black looked as confused as Professor McGonagall -whom had informed them it'd take a good three lessons to learn- Lily might have called foul.

Whatever was bothering him in the library clearly wasn't effecting his magic in anyway. She wasn't even sure why she'd been worried.

* * *

**Mmmm, I'm very stressed at the moment, I keep dreaming that I've failed my exams for several different reasons, from just being stupid, to monkey's stealing my exams before the markers get them. **

**On that note, I'm out. Thanks for the reviews. **

**So yeah, thanks for reading,**

**Tsume  
xxx**


End file.
